By CHATULA KANGALI -
STANBIC Bank Zambia has changed the name of its service which serves Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) from SME Banking to Enterprise Banking to align with the Standard Bank Group guidance across Africa.
Stanbic Bank Zambia acting head personal and business banking Mwansa Mutati said the financial institution conducted a research aimed at improving relations with entrepreneurs and how they perceive their businesses.
Ms Mutati said in a statement that the research revealed that entrepreneurs did not view their businesses as small or medium, but rather as growing enterprises.
She said the bank changed the name to Enterprise Banking in order to be relevant to the needs its clients.
Stanbic Bank Zambia head of Enterprise Banking, Weni Kabota Chona the bank was working on developing a digital bank for enterprise clients.
“Two years ago, we launched the Business Connect Centre, which we have now renamed as Enterprise Direct. Enterprise Direct is a virtual channel through which our enterprise customers access various banking solutions without having to visit the bank,” he said.
Mr Chona said the Enterprise Direct offered clients banking convenience as it gave them time to focus on running their businesses rather than queuing up in branches.
He said it was because of that reason the business segment was changed to Enterprise Banking as it would include all the needs of the clients.

By JUDITH NAMUTOWE -
THE Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) has said the feasibility study on the Batoka Hydropower Station has been reviewed.
ZRA chief executive officer Munyaradzi Munodawafa said in an interview yesterday that the review on the demo structure, power house and capacity output on the project had been completed.
Mr Munodawafa said the authority was currently waiting for the second phase of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
‘‘We have reviewed the Batoka Hydropower Station feasibility study. The study on the demo structure, power house structure and the capacity output on the project has been completed,’’ Mr Munodawafa said.
He said the finalisation of the study and the EIA was expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2015.
Mr Munodawfa said consultants were currently working on other processes and thereafter the project committee which include senior Government officials , utilities and ZRA would visit the project this month.
He said once all these processes were completed, ZRA would then be able to select the developer for the project, after which the authority would be able to come up with the actual value of the project.
Zambia and Zimbabwe signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to team up and start the Batoka hydropower project which is estimated to cost about US$4 billion.
The agreement was signed during the council of ministers held at Kariba in Siavonga recently.